If you are new to quizzing, especially to higher and competitive grades of college and 'open' quizzing in India, you may have struggled with solving trivia questions. In this Slideshare presentation, Ramanand gives you a glimpse of how you can tackle these questions using what you know, finding clues, and taking informed guesses.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was first published on the 26th of June 1997. A new universe full of magic, murder, mystery, Dobby, Draco and dragons burst forth and strongly captivated audiences and mesmerized millions. The universe continues to do so 20 years on. 26th June 2017 marks this anniversary of a global phenomenon with celebrations all over the world.

Thinq2win is celebrating it too! On the 24th of June at 3:45 PM, you can get Fluffy, Pigwidgeon and Witherwings to a SparQ session. The Marauder's Map should lead you to Artsphere, North Main Road, Kalyaninagar, Pune. Mark yourselves here.

See you there! And while you wait, you can test your knowledge of Lesser Known Harry Potter Characters below, as well as get a taste of what is to come in the presentation beside.

Yes, we do start some of our work meetings with a quiz. Nothing like questions to get the mental gears in motion. They are often accompanied by puns. Some really bad. Nothing like that to oil those gears.

By the time it's time to discuss business, our brains are in business.

This was a topic true to the quirky traditions of #usedtothinq. It was conducted on the 12th of Feb and saw a large participation and banter. Finally people could apply their accumulated knowledge learnt on the net! Impatience was evident and excitement palpable.

The 21st #usedtothinq edition was dedicated to the hidden power in all the films. Lurking in the background or sometimes being the catalyst or even the protagonist of any movie: its music. Dedicated fans of composers, scores and music answered questions with the panache and flourish of a music conductor. In case you missed it, you can take it here:

In case you have any suggestions for future themes, comment away! Also tell us how many you got!

The 20th edition of the #usedtothinq Twitter quiz was conducted on the 29th of January 2017. The topic was Ridiculous Hairstyles and the questions were wonderfully ridiculous, so were the attempts made the handles and it was ridiculous fun all-in-all. In case you missed it, you can give it a go here:

I turned 32 years old in December. To celebrate, I decided to do something crazy. No, not sky diving, but close. I called my friends home, divided them into teams of three and then threw a whole bunch of quiz questions at them. I don’t think anyone knew exactly what to expect out of this social experiment (myself included) but what happened was actually pretty fun to watch. In no time they were yelling out answers, high-fiving team members, trash-talking opponents, heckling at the tough questions (there were some doozies and I’ll admit it was for my own sadistic pleasure) and acting like bratty kids in general. Of course no rules were followed; this was an unruly but excitable mob. Participants answered out of turn, the audience (basically those who didn’t clear the written round) heckled the quizmaster (so much for it being my birthday) and maybe there was some googling? But it turned out to be a great ice-breaker and the best part of it was that I could do something like this—something I’m personally passionate about—with the people I love. This was the first time friends from different parts of my life had come together in one place. If not for the quiz, they would have barely interacted with people outside their respective ‘cliques,’ barring small talk. It certainly was the most exciting part of my birthday party for me and even trumped the biryani, which was delicious.

It was no rager, I’ll give you that, but it *was* a raging success (don’t let my friends tell you any different—they’re just upset they didn’t know all the answers).

On the 22nd of Jan we brought out the worst in the Twitterati: their hidden schadenfreude and manic evil. People made puns and cracked jokes as bones cracked and answers were burnt at the stake. The edition dedicated to Most Painful Deaths had people gather around and try to win prizes by condemning questions. Like medieval Europe. In case you missed the fun (apprehensive stares) you can take the quiz here.
How Guy Fawkes' terror gets converted to modern humour:

@thinq2win Phew...Thank you so much! For a moment I thought I was the only pervert here.

As part of our quizzing brand Thinq2Win, we have created and delivered custom 'party quizzes' for occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. Cast your mind back to the last big party you went to: chances are it was about cliques of people in their corners. All that brings together people in the room is the cutting of the cake!

In contrast, our clever party quiz formats are designed to get everyone celebrate the people at the middle of the occasion in a fun and non-embarrassing (!) way. That too, irrespective of their age or station in life.

Pune Mirror covered us as part of an article on how birthdays can be quirky. Check it out online or here's the relevant part:

Want to invigorate your parties with a touch of smarts? Get in touch with us.

According to an article I read recently, the topics people usually end up talking about in most social settings are work, maids, children etc. I guess that’s because these are the things they have in common (or think they do).

The easiest way to connect with people and converse with them *is* to find commonality, no doubt about it. Think of any group you enjoy being part of – there is some commonality that binds the group and conversations are fun because everyone ‘gets’ the jokes. Learning more about the interests of your friends – what they like, what they hate – helps in finding more topics of commonality and helps you connect better. This is where quizzing has helped me a lot – to connect with strangers as well as friends and relatives! If I’m sitting in a pub and someone answers a question on House M.D. or Sherlock, there is an unconscious connection made (though Sherlock would find it difficult to connect with them. Humans, that is).

Quizzing helps you in avoiding that worse case scenario when it comes to conversations: What else? It is all pretty much downhill from there. The best friends I have are the ones I found through the world of quizzing. I have many friends that I first met outside of the world of quizzing, but the best conversations that I have had with them have happened courtesy quizzing. Quizzing or the game of Q&A (whether you’re asking or answering) is after all, a manifestation of the most innate qualities that defines us as human beings – curiosity. You’re not just a passive consumer but are alive to the conversation. We owe it to ourselves and our friends to have better conversations!

To give you an example: Luigi Galvani had once proposed the idea of animal electricity based on the twitching of a dead frog’s leg. Allesandro Volta later found that it just proved there was no such thing as animal electricity; the frog’s leg was simply a conductor of electricity. Now, a Galvanic reaction is also the principle used in primary batteries to generate electrical voltage. I studied metallurgy, hence this is of added significance to me. A few years ago, I had an accident on a two-wheeler as I lost my balance while trying to avoid crushing a frog that was crossing the road. Luckily I didn’t hurt myself too badly. Couple of days later, I was recounting this story to two of my friends and one of them quips,”Oh! You had a Galvanic reaction!” Now that you know the background, I’m sure my friend’s response to my accident makes lot of sense and explains why I enjoyed it so much and remember it 13 years later.

It’s simple. The interesting conversations stay with you, the boring / mediocre ones don’t. Isn’t it time we skewed the ratio?

The 18th #usedtothinq quiz took place on the 15th of January, Sunday. We new that such a quirky and funny topic would be immensely popular but the sheer number of handles that turned up and took part amazed us. With monkeys, horses, dogs and CGI parrots making an appearance, neighs and growls were heard as handles fought tooth and nail to be the first ones to answer. In case you missed the quiz, you can take it here:

And yes, it did leave a lasting impression:

@thinq2win This quiz just ingrained the song 'Main naagin tu sapera' for the rest of the day in my mind... :(

The 17th #usedtothinq quiz, on automobiles, took place on a brilliant Sunday afternoon under clear weather with a cool breeze blowing across the the @thinq2win Twitter channel. Answers zoomed in as questions were asked, with everyone at the pole position at the end. One thing clearly seen in this edition is that cars are a fascination held across and through ages. In case you missed the race, you can take it here:
In case you have a suggestion on what topic to take next do comment below. Also post the score you get!

We welcomed the new year #usedtothinq style on the 1st of January. Our eager quizzers were ready foe the questions as they shook of the dust of 2016 and answered the ancient civilization questions of 2017. One of the quirkiest and toughest yet, there were many guesses as we upped the notch a little. The participants were ready for us and no question went unanswered. In case you missed it, you can give it a go here:

One would expect the holiday season to chill people's initiative, but if Thinq2Win attendance is anything to go by, our Christmas special edition garnered the same consistent number of handles, eager to spread cheer by being asked questions. The he handles seemed to have come prepared with the holiday merriment as they answered all the questions with increasing aplomb. In case you are sad and lonely these holidays, take this quiz and spread the festival spirit!

In case you liked this quiz, and have some suggestions for future topics, feel free to comment below!

This year, along with Doolally, Choose To Thinq under its brand Thinq2Win decided to end the year with a novel idea. After brainstorming, we came up with a way to reward the consistent and the best, the All-Stars of the pub-quizzes we conduct every Wednesday at the Doolally tap-rooms. We also included the best of #doolallyq: The on-line Twitter quiz we conduct for Doolally every Friday. 30 contestants were selected who divided themselves into 15 teams. Big Honour, Bragging Rights, Beer and Interesting Fun was up for grabs.

Conducted at 8 PM on the 15th of December 2016, Thursday, the elimination round were a written round. Top 4 teams qualified into the finals face-off. All the teams were excellent with a close-cut off where teams were just 1/2 points behind each other.

The points were called pints, an you guessed it; that's exactly what they won! For the entire of 2017, these lucky winners will be entitled to these many pints of beer:

At Thinq2Win we always strive to do something different in everything we do. And we took ample opportunity to try something new this time since this was an inaugural edition. This time we introduced a round called 'Clunacy'. In this round, answers were themed around words which mean 'mad'. All the three answers of a set contained a word that means 'mad'. Can you attempt this set?

1.Uzi and Mongoose are types of these in cricket
2. Logo of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits company in the world
3. Flying mammals

The quiz was conducted by the immensely experienced B V Harish Kumar. He was ably assisted by Deven Deshpande.
The audience was enthusiastic too and supported the teams throughout by staying till the end.
The organization of logistics by Doolally was top-notch and they even gave us T-Shirts :D

The 13th edition of the #usedtothinq Twitter quizzes took place on the 19th of December 2016. The fact that we changed the our working handle for the quizzes to @thinq2win did not seem to affect our audience much. The number of people who engaged with us did not reduce but only seemed more active. In case you missed the quiz, you can give it a go here:

Did you have fun answering? Like our facebook and twitter pages to get an update when our next quiz is. You can also ping us with suggestions of your own by commenting below!

13 did not prove unlucky for us as our 13th edition of the #usedtothinq quizzes, on Indian Scientists, gathered a great response. Held on the 11th of December, 2016, this topic served as a tribute to the great minds that have graced our country and the world as well. Medicine, Physics, Maths, Chemistry - all were represented and these dry topics did not seem to deter the Twitterati who answered in full gusto. We daresay that they seemed more interested in these topics then than during their times in school and college :D In case you missed your Eureka moment, you can take the quiz here:

Did you have fun answering? Like our facebook and twitter pages to get an update when our next quiz is. You can also ping us with suggestions of your own by commenting below!